Cork survivor of George Gibney: 'I knew I was telling the truth'

Gibney, a former Irish Olympic swimming coach, was convicted of 39 counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape following a trial earlier this year

Trish Kearney: 'I'm delighted that he was finally found guilty publicly.' File picture: Larry Cummins

Trish Kearney, a Cork survivor of serial paedophile George Gibney, has said it is "wonderful" to see him finally brought to justice for offences committed in the 1970s and 1980s.

Gibney, a former swimming coach, was convicted of 39 counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape following a trial earlier this year.

On Monday, Gibney was jailed for 15 and a half years for the sexual abuse of four young swimmers 50 years ago.

It was through his coaching and network of swimming clubs that he sexually abused children. 

Ms Kearney was just 13 years old when she met Gibney and was exposed to his abuse at the Trojan Swimming Club in Blackrock, Co Dublin.

In 2021, Ms Kearney published a book, Above Water, chronicling the abuse and the devastating effect it had on her childhood.

“I'm delighted that this particular chapter is at an end,” Ms Kearney said on RTÉ Radio One’s Liveline on Monday.

“I'm delighted that he was finally found guilty publicly. We all knew he was guilty. I knew I was telling the truth. Chalkie [White, another swimmer who was abused by Gibney] knew he was telling the truth,” she said.

In 1993, Gibney was charged with 27 counts of child sexual abuse. However, the prosecution was halted after he successfully challenged the case through judicial review.

Renewed public attention followed the release of a BBC podcast in 2020, led by Irish journalist Mark Horgan and entitled Where is George Gibney?

It prompted fresh allegations from a number of alleged victims and led to a new Garda investigation. At the time, Gibney was living in the US.

He was extradited to Ireland in 2025 to face a series of child sexual abuse charges.

“It's just wonderful that literally through the tenacity of so many people over so many years that eventually we got as far as the podcast, and then the podcast got as far as reaching new people, and those new people very, very brave, and they came forward and they got their justice today," Ms Kearney told Liveline.

“I think the measure of the sentence also will allow people to realise that this was a very very dangerous man, and he has affected an awful lot of lives.

“And it'll be even better to wake up tomorrow morning and just say the number that he got again in my head, and I can say that forever.” 

Despite Gibney’s conviction not being directly linked to her abuse, Ms Kearney said there was absolute solace in seeing Gibney finally put behind bars. 

“I took that as our justice. This is a very different thing, and this is is kind of really putting it to public attention that there can be no doubt in anyone's mind what this man was, what he did," she said.

“I feel too for the girls and maybe boys that went through Gibney’s swimming club and haven't actually come forward. I think this is a day for all of them as well. You know that we think of them and just celebrate everybody who has survived.”

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